Loan to girlfriend - guidance needed please!

Stub001

In June 2004 I lent my girlfriend £8000 to save her going to the bank and she began repaying me that month to the tune of £253.20 per month. After 6 payments the true scale of her financial problem became apparent in that she was funding the pqayments from credit cards. I again helped her and agreed that she could suspend payments until she was in a more viable position. In total she has repaid £1519.20. I then helped her to get her house in order by recaliming bank fees and credit card fees in excess of £2500. I also helped her to get a personal loan through HSBC so that she could replace some of the expensive credit card debt with a cheaper alternative. We split up in August last year and, you guessed it, she is, shall we say, playing hard to get in respect of repaying my loan. She has offered to pay £10.00 per month which is a mickey take given this will take over 63 years to repay at this level. Her HSBC loan finishes in 2 years but she still syas that she will not be in a position to increase her payments because her circumstances have changed. Can anyone provide any suggestions (legal ones only please) as to what to do next? Is it worth registering through court?

Thanks for any thoughts.

Stu

Troubled_Joe

It's a difficult situation (but you don't need me to tell you that).

Obviously if there is no loan agreement then you have a problem with evidence. Add to this the fact that you were in a relationship and as such the court may start with the presumption that it was a gift.

(I'm assuming here that you can prove the £8k was paid to her).

Anyway, that presumption is rebuttabal and the best evidence to do this is the regular repayment from her in the first instance (assuming it wasn't cash).

If you do win, you then need to enforce the judgment....

Vomityspice

Ask her nicely to pay and if she refuses to make an offer of repayment, take her to court.

If you have the evidence that she owes you the money (i.e. the repayments she has already made) then fill out your small claims application and serve her a writ. That way the court can decide if she owes the money and how much she can afford to repay.

Please note that if she doesn't have any money then you'll be wasting your time and money, chasing it. Unless she has seizable assests (no smutty pun intended!), you may find it difficult to enforce the debt. However, if you want to just make her miserable, sue her, register the CCJ (as this is ruin her credit status overnight) and then let it go.

dannynixon

Without a formal agreement whereby you and your girlfriend signed something stating the payments etc I honestly think you will find this a very difficult one.

Vomityspice

You don't need it written down. You have a contract by 'conduct' (or possibly verbally as well). i.e the fact that she paid you a number of times would indicate her agreement (can't remember the legal case name but it involved Bristish Railways buying coal without a written contract - can look it up if needed!)

Alternatively, you could write to her asking about how she intends to pay, given that you have rejected her offer of £10. Give her 14 days before you start proceedings against her and when she replies (hopefully), the response will acknowledge the debt.

It might be helpful to include a copy of the pre-dated claim form in the letter so she can see your not bluffing. Again you can then pursue it......

Final though - Do you really need the money or are you just feeling spurned by the breakup?

Stub001

Guys, thanks for all your responses. The 6 payments she made were not by cash so can get evidence of it entering my bank account. I do not have an agreement as such but she has corresponded with me via email about the dept and discussing the debt so effectively has acknowledged its existence. I have writtent to he giving her 14 days to inform me of her plans to repay else I will be forced to take legal action. She has some personal effects such as genuine Louis Vuitton luggage (I know, how's she got that with no money - on credit!!) - could these be deemed as seizable assets?

Thanks again.

nobblyned

Could always try the old trick to get admittance of the debt on paper - write to her saying 'can you make arrangements to pay that 10k you owe me', and hope she writes back saying 'don't be a tw*t I only owe you 8k'.

Oops, missed your response above, if you have enough e-mail correspondence to prove the debt, I'd write giving her a chance to pay with the explanation you will take her to court otherwise. If she won't play ball then you need to follow through on your promise. Not sure what the upper limit on small claims is, but it's a fairly simple process. only downside is that if she has nowt, that's exactly what you'll get back. (save the satisfaction on the CCJ etc).

Do you have any leverage through her parents? if they knew their darling daughter was doing you over, would they care? If they knew you could ruin her credit with a CCJ would they come up with any cash for her to pay you?

craigp_2

Have you got a local CAB you could try?